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Five Ghanaians arrested by Togolese security forces during a shootout in Gbadaag, a town located along the Ghana-Togo border, over alleged disruption of a registration exercise. voters have languished in a Togolese prison for three months without trial.
Reliable sources told the Daily Graphic that the suspects, who were in a prison in Dapango, northern Togo, were seriously ill without medical care.
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The five men were arrested, along with Togolese, at a Gbadaag market in Togo on October 20, 2018 after strangers disrupted a Togolese voter registration exercise near the market.
Reports indicate that security personnel looking for the perpetrators stormed the market and gathered many people, including the five Ghanaians from Bunkpurugu District in the Northern Region who had gone there to trade.
The Gbadaag Market is a Togolese popular market located near Bunkpurugu, where nationals of both countries trade.
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Family account / call
Mr. Godwin Duak, a relative of one of the suspects, confirmed in his interview with the Daily Graphic the detention of the suspects.
He gave their names as Duak Bitian, Kombat Nini Bjobin, Duut Dajeb, Kombian Jaben and Laar Mobong.
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According to him, the five people who lived near the border went to the market and were resting in a bady-trapped area when members of the armed security forces stormed the market with three vehicles and took them out. arrested.
Innocent
He claimed that the five Ghanaians were not involved in the alleged disturbance of the registration exercise as they did not participate in the exercise of presidential and legislative elections in Togo.
Mr. Duak added that the suspects had not been charged in any Togolese court.
"All the efforts of the security authorities to release them on bail have proved futile," he said.
According to him, family members in Ghana had been to Togo several times in order to obtain bail for the five "but every time we went there, they took us to money before allowing us to see them ".
He said that one of the elderly suspects had been injured in a motorcycle accident and that he had been involved three days before his arrest. His condition had deteriorated as he had not been sent for medical treatment.
Another family member of another suspect, Mr. Nanoang Silas Jadan, said: "We reported the incident to the district director (DCE) for Bunkpurugu, but nothing has been done to fix it. We have no problem when they are tried and convicted, but we are afraid they have not been heard. "
Family members appealed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the Ghana Mission to Togo to intervene to secure the release of the five people illegally detained.
DCE's efforts
When the Daily Graphic contacted Bunkpurugu's DCE, Alhaji Majeed Azumah Duut, he confirmed the detention and said that his attention was drawn but that efforts to secure their release had been unsuccessful.
"I have received reports that Togolese have disrupted an exercise at a polling station in a town on the Ghana-Togo border near Bunkpurugu. Unfortunately, some of our members who went to the market were arrested, as well as 17 Togolese.
"I contacted the local authority manager for this area and followed up to try to get them released, but that did not work out. The Togolese authorities said that because of their election, they could not do anything about it. But I will meet the Togolese authorities in the coming days about this incident, "he said.
Attempts to have immigration officials at the border express themselves on this issue were unsuccessful.
Violation of the security protocol
Speaking on the incident, Adam Bona, a security expert, described it as "disturbing and overt breaching international security protocols."
"The Togolese security forces should have informed the Ghanaian mission in Togo that they had arrested Ghanaians suspected of involvement in acts of violence so that the mission could be represented by a lawyer. If they do not, then it's very disturbing, "he said.
On what should be done right now, he said: "The families of the suspects should report to the Northern Regional Minister, who is President of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC), and petition the Minister of Justice. Inside, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the Comptroller General of Ghana Immigration Service must quickly react to the incident. "
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